


I Hear Your Voice

by Cocopops1995



Series: Found Family Bingo [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Bedside Vigil, Dick feels guilty, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Found Family Bingo, Gen, Platonic Cuddling, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Tim's been fear gassed, tim is robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26030545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocopops1995/pseuds/Cocopops1995
Summary: Tim's been hit by fear gas. Dick feels guilty. Bruce does some good dad-ing, and there's cuddles.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne
Series: Found Family Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1889527
Comments: 5
Kudos: 124





	I Hear Your Voice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blondsak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blondsak/gifts).



> Written for my found family bingo card. The prompt was "bedside vigil" requested by blondsak :)

“Shh, Timmy, it’s okay. I’m here.” Dick murmurs as Tim moans into his chest. “I’ve got you. It’s okay.”

Tim doesn’t answer other than to whimper and dig his fingers into Dick’s side. 

Dick tightens his hold on his little brother. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.” he says even as he closes his eyes and lays his head back against the pillow. At least the screaming has stopped. 

It’s Dick’s fault Tim is like this. Nightwing and Robin had been patrolling together tonight while Bruce was grounded due to a badly sprained ankle from the previous night. Things had been going well until Scarecrow had decided to attack a movie theatre. 

Nightwing and Robin had been able to stop the attack in the nick of time, managing to successfully evacuate the moviegoers before Scarecrow could fill the theatre with his gas. But then they’d gotten separated, and while Nightwing was busy fighting off Scarecrows goons, Robin had ended up facing Scarecrow himself, and Nightwing had been too late to save him from getting a face full of fear gas.

“Hey,” Bruce says, entering Tim’s room in the Manor. “How’s he doing?” 

“Calmer than before,” Dicks answers, keeping his voice low and gentle. “Still clinging to me for dear life, though.”

Dick had administered the antidote as soon as he’d been able to, but even with it, the effects of the fear gas always takes some time to wear off completely.

Bruce hums. “He feels safe with you.”

Dick scoffs. “Fat load of good that did him tonight.” 

Bruise arches an eyebrow at him, and Dick sighs.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have allowed us to get separated.”

Bruce hums again as he settles into the armchair beside Tim’s bed. 

Tim whimpers again, and Dick hushes him again.

“Do you blame me for every time we got separated in the field, and you ended up hurt because of it?” Bruce asks after Tim’s settled somewhat again.

“No,” Is Dick’s immediate answer, but then he sighs again. “Does knowing that make you feel any less guilty?” 

Bruce snorts. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

They lapse into silence for a moment, listening to Tim’s ragged breathing.

“I’m sorry,” Dick says after hushing another one of Tim’s terrified whimpers.

Bruce shakes his head. “You don’t need to apologise, Dick. These things happen, but you both made it home alive. That’s what you need to focus on.”

Dick shakes his head. “No - I mean, yeah I am trying to focus on that - but that’s not what I’m apologising for.”

Bruce frowns at him.

“I meant, I’m sorry for every time I made you feel this way every time I got hurt while I was in the field with you as Robin. I get it now, and it sucks.”

Bruce gives him a wry smile. “It  _ does  _ suck. But you don’t need to apologise for that either. Just like I know you don’t blame Tim for what happened to him tonight, I’ve never blamed you for getting hurt in the field.”

“Even when I got hurt because of my own stupidity?” 

Bruce gives an amused huff. “Even then.”

Tim stirs in Dick’s arms, lifting his head and blinking up at Dick with red-rimmed eyes.

“Dick?” he asks in a hoarse, broken voice.

“Hey, Timmy,” Dick says, relaxing at the awareness in the kid’s eyes. “That’s right. I’m right here.” 

“Real?” he asks.

Dick’s heart breaks at that question. He knows all too well how difficult it can be to discern reality from the nightmares. 

“Yeah, Tim. I’m here. This is real.” he answers, squeezing Tim a bit tighter to emphasise his words. 

Tension bleeds out of Tim’s body, and he lets out a shuddering breath.

“Bruce?” he asks after a moment.

“Bruce is here too.” Dick assures him.

Bruce moves from the armchair to the side of Tim’s bed and lays a hand on Tim’s back. “I’m right here, son.”

Tim cranes his head around to see Bruce and then lets out another shuddering breath as his body starts to tremble, a sure sign that the gas’s effects are reaching their end. He turns his head back into Dick’s head and mumbles something. 

Dick only catches the words “dead” and “alone.” The way Tim’s voice breaks on the word “alone” makes Dick feel like he’s being stabbed in the chest. He presses a kiss into his brother’s sweat-soaked hair.

“You’re not alone, Timmy. We’re both alive, and we’re here. You’re not alone, I promise.” Dick swears, pouring as much conviction and assurance into his voice as he can.

Bruce considers them for a moment and then slips under the covers with them, sandwiching Tim between himself and Dick. 

He throws his arms over the both of them and says: “We’re both here, Tim. You’re safe, son.”

Tim murmurs something again. Dick doesn’t catch any of what he says that time, but at least he doesn’t sound as devastated as he had before, and the trembling seems to lessen somewhat. 

Dick presses another kiss into Tim’s hair. “You can rest now, Timmy. Bruce and I have got you, and we’ll both be here when you wake up. Right, Bruce?”

“Right.” Bruce says.

Tim doesn’t respond, but his breath does even out into a sleeping pattern pretty quickly after that. 

It’s only when Tim seems to be truly asleep that Dick feels his own exhaustion wash over him. 

“Get some sleep, Dickie.” Bruce murmurs. 

Dick smiles and with his family safe and with him, it doesn’t take him very long to do just that.

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
